Five takeaways from NC State head coach Dave Doeren at ACC Kickoff

NC State football coach Dave Doeren answered questions from media members Thursday at the 2021 ACC Kickoff in Charlotte.

Here are the five main takeaways from Doeren's first in-person availability of the year:

Vaccination rates were the hottest topic of the 2021 ACC Football Kickoff, and almost every coach in the league faced questions of the statuses of their respective teams.

The ACC set a vaccination rate goal for each team of 85 percent, a minimum threshold that will allow teams to return to normal operations within their locker rooms. As of Wednesday, six of the league's teams plus Notre Dame had reached that goal.

NC State was not one of them, but Doeren was confident that his team will be reaching that goal very soon. In Doeren's radio row availability on the Adam Gold Show, he said that just over 80 percent of the team had been vaccinated.

Doeren's obvious preference is for everyone on the team to be vaccinated in an effort to proactively prevent cancellations and postponements due to the virus this season. But the football program and the athletic department have taken a player's choice approach, which means that the decision to get vaccinated is ultimately left up to the individual.

That is in contrast to other ACC schools, some of which have university policies requiring vaccination before returning to campus. Boston College is one of those institutions, and the Eagles football program has a 100 percent vaccination rate.

But without an administrative mandate, Doeren admits it will be impossible to get to a 100 percent vaccination rate on the team as some players have reservations about taking the vaccine.

"I'd love to say this is mandatory," Doeren told ESPN.com's David Hale. "But there's legitimate concerns for some guys on it. I can't play doctor, but I can point out all that stuff and talk about our baseball team, and we don't want to be like that. But at the same time, there are some kids who fundamentally don't believe in that and aren't going to do it."